Debbie McCoy convened a 10-year anniversary panel in July 2025 to review Connecticut's response to a decade-long problem of concrete degradation in residential foundations, and panelists described a multi-part government and community effort that has produced testing, research, and funding to repair more than 1,000 homes.

Why it matters: panelists said the crisis has required sustained technical study (UConn and Trinity engineering work), mapping (U.S. Geological Survey involvement), and multiple funding streams to repair homes and support lower-income homeowners. They credited grassroots organizing and bipartisan legislative work with creating the testing program and a set of funding tools that did not exist in 2015.

Panelists summarized the sequence that produced the response. Early town-level complaints and a media expose9 in 2015 led to the formation of a CRCOG ad hoc committee and the Connecticut Coalition Against Crumbling Basements. Federal lawmakers and state officials pursued research and program options: HUD Community Development Block Grant funds supported initial testing; UConn's School of Engineering received research funding; and the Government Accountability Office produced a report on economic impacts. Rep. Joe Courtney said the movement 'started as a grassroots effort' that required both technical work and government program design to help homeowners.

Funding and program mechanics: panelists described a mix of revenue and bond commitments that have supported remediation. Speakers said governors authorized multiple bond tranches (speakers described two initial $100 million bond packages and more recent commitments) and pointed to a $12 annual surcharge on homeowners' insurance that feeds the Healthy Homes Fund. One panelist noted the Healthy Homes Fund brings in about $11 million a year and that bonded money allows a higher throughput of repairs (speakers estimated roughly 250 homes a year could be assisted with bonded funding at recent levels). A recent legislative action was described by speakers as authorizing an additional $100 million in bonding in the weeks before the program's 10th anniversary.

Testing and administration: Pauline Yoder, Chief Operating Officer at the Capitol Region Council of Governments (CRCOG), said CRCOG was chosen to manage the governor's testing program because the agency had convened local assessors and building officials and created a regional map of affected towns. Yoder said thousands of homes have been tested since the program began and that the CRCOG-administered assistance is narrowly focused on structural repairs needed to obtain a safe occupancy certificate; it does not cover living or moving costs. Panelists said award amounts vary and are often well under maximum eligibility amounts discussed at various points.

Insurance and policy context: multiple speakers said the property-casualty insurance market refused broad coverage for this slow-moving degradation, citing industry guidance that typically limits payouts to sudden, accidental collapse. That standard shifted mitigation and repair costs to homeowners and prompted lawmakers to design non-insurance funding mechanisms. Speakers also discussed formation of a captive vehicle to coordinate payments and administrative arrangements.

What remains: panelists urged continued attention. They reported 2,427 applicants to the main remediation program and said more than 1,000 homes had been repaired by mid-2025, but also highlighted ongoing challenges: insurance market decisions that raise home- and condo-policy premiums, the need to preserve the Healthy Homes Fund for long-term issues (including radon abatement), and the technical task of ensuring quarry and aggregate standards are enforced. Rep. Courtney and state legislators emphasized bipartisan cooperation through a 'concrete caucus' that they said made many of the legislative fixes possible.

The panel closed by noting international collaboration (Canadian and European researchers), pending conferences to share technical findings, and a reminder that the effort remains a long-term, 'long-tail' recovery rather than a single event.